BOUNDARY CROSSING FOR DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND ACHIEVEMENT: INTER­DISTRICT SCHOOL DESEGREGATION AND EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY

By Amy Stuart Wells, Bianca J. Baldridge, Jacquelyn Duran, Courtney Grzesikowski, Richard Lofton,
Allison Roda, Miya Warner and Terrenda White

CHARLES HAMILTON HOUSTON INSTITUTE FOR RACE AND JUSTICE  • REPORT • NOVEMBER 2009

School district boundaries shape children’s educational opportunities in countless ways. Living on one side of a district boundary line or the other can dictate whether a student has access to challenging curriculum, well-prepared teachers, decent facilities, high expectations, non-poor peers, and a wealth of other tangible and intangible factors that influence learning. While these factors can vary by school and classroom within a single district, the separateness and inequality that characterize U.S. education along racial/ethnic and social class lines are increasingly circumscribed by school district boundaries.

According to Clotfelter (2004), a full 84% of racial/ethnic segregation in U.S. public schools occurs between and not within school districts. Other research shows that while racial segregation remains high, Americans are also becoming increasingly segregated by income, with more affluent people living close together, and divided spatially in urban and suburban areas from those with less (Drier, Mollenkopf and Swanstrom, 2004; Reardon & Bischoff, 2009)…. read more.

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